Black and White
by FevrierMai
Summary: I heard someone once say that nothing is black or white, it's gray. Wrong, my problem comes striped in both. LashOC
1. Chapter 1 in which Natalie enters

"_Doctor Hypnosis's latest attack on the city has already left massive damage on Fourth Street._" A reporter was saying. Helicopter footage showed a woman in a long white lab coat stalking sown a street with bleary eyed school children following her,_ "It appears that she's moving south with a goal in mind. Her-" _Natalie turned doff the Television. She ran from the family room to the kitchen,

"Mom? Mom!" her mother was standing at the stove making grilled cheese sandwiches for a lunch that probably wouldn't be eaten, "Aunt Sarah's on Fourth Street, she'll be here in four minutes and thirty-eight seconds!" Her mother sighed and turned off the stove. She moved the pan she was using to a cool burner,

"Alright, you go to Dillon's house for now while I try to talk Sarah out of whatever she's doing." They already knew what she was trying to do, but tried not to talk about it, "I'll come get you in an hour." Her mother rushed to her bedroom to change into her embarrassingly tight Super Hero Outfit.

Natalie ran back through the living room to the mud room. She slipped on her flip-flops and ran out the door. Across the street and two houses down lived Dillon, a family friend who was known to the public as Raptor Man (or had been, before retiring). He was nearly sixty and bald, but still quite strong. It was the safest place to go when Doctor Hypnosis was off to kidnap her again. It was one of her Aunt Sarah's life goals to kidnap Natalie and train her in the ways of the villains. She was lucky her mom, known as Cyan Cascade, was a super as well.

Natalie sat with Dillon at his kitchen table. They were playing poker and using froot-loops as chips. She felt as though her mom had been gone forever, but knew by looking at the clock that it had only been forty-five minutes. She felt that if she had to wait any longer she'd explode. Tomorrow was her first day of High School, and she didn't want it to be her mothers' funeral.

After another ten minutes the phone rang. Dillon sat down his cards and cautiously picked up the receiver. "Hello…?" he asked into it, "……Thank god… … … …I'm sure it was wonderful… … Yes, I'll send her on Home. Bye." He hung the phone up and sat down heavily on one of the table chairs, "Your mother's on her way home, she's fine."

O – o – o – o – o – o – o – O

"So how's Sarah?" Natalie asked as she walked through the front door. She tried to sound calm, but she was always worried that her mom would go out to fight crime and not come back. It scared her to think that she was expected to take on that same profession in a few years.

"Still insane," Was her mothers reply from the Family Room, "This time I stuck her in jail. We can only hope it'll hold her longer than it did last time." This was one of the times that Natalie hated her mom for being calm. She'd go out, risk her life, and come back to say that she wanted to watch CSI or go shoe shopping. "Oh, Annie, get your backpack together for tomorrow. You don't want to be rushed."

O – o – o – o – o – o – o – O

Natalie heard her alarm clock go off and start playing her favorite radio station. She sat and listened to it for a moment before a rap song came on. Disgusted, she turned it off and sat up. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and shuffled off to the bathroom like a sloth.

After twenty minutes she decided she looked decent. She had part of her dark brown hair pilled back in a ponytail that fell to her shoulders, but was disgusted with how limp it looked. She pulled on a pair of black slacks and an overlong striped turtleneck. Picking up her satchel she went down the hallway to the kitchen. Natalie knew her mother wouldn't be there to give a ride to the bus stop a quarter mile away since her 'normal' job was at a nearby bakery. Two bowls of cereal later and she was on her way out the door.

O – o – o – o – o – o – o – O

_Shit_, Natalie thought as she rounded the second to last corner to the bus stop_, I've got thirty seconds before the bus leaves me in the dust_! With swear words running through her mind Natalie raced for the corner. She could see the yellow vehicle pulling up to the curb and hoped she could make it. The door was closing when she reached it, panting and ready to fall over. The bus driver was nice enough to let her on, even though she had _almost_ missed it. Her last bus driver hadn't been that nice.

It looked like her stop was one of the last since almost all the seats were full. Gripping the strap on her satchel nervously she walked towards the back hoping to find an open seat somewhere along the way. She had no such luck; all of the seats were occupied. She could feel the bus jolt forward and begin to move. She felt awkward standing where everybody could see her and she _knew_ they were looking and thinking of how absurdly stupid she was.

"Lash, get up and move over!" The bus driver yelled over the intercom. A boy in the very back seat who looked like he'd been sleeping sat up lazily. He had messy dark brown hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a red T-shirt with a skull on it over a black and white striped long-sleeved shirt and skinny jeans. He looked like a sophomore or junior. Natalie heard him say something in gibberish before laying back down, "Lash, get your lazy butt up and let the girl sit next to you." Again he sat up but this time he moved to a normal sitting position. Natalie sat next to him, trying not to let her arm come in contact with his. She didn't look at him, anywhere but him.

"So, uh, what's with the outfit?" He said. She could see him gesturing to her shirt through her peripheral vision, "You look like you expect it to snow or something." _So much for avoiding conversation_, she thought bleakly. She didn't look at him as she replied.

"We're not having snow for two months, six days, and eight hours. I'm just cold." It was the truth. She almost always felt chilled as though she had just walked into a walk in freezer.

"I'm right here if you need some one to keep you warm, you know." He said breezily. Finally giving in she turned to look at him, shocked. This was one of the last things Natalie had expected him to say. He was leaning against the window with his hands behind his head smirking. Natalie just stared at him, still not comprehending that he had been flirting with her. Then she noticed that the bus was speeding up. Looking out of the window ahead of their seat she could see that they were speeding toward some sort of cliff.

"Uh, what-what's-going on?" Natalie asked. She could feel the dread building in her stomach. Safety belts came down across everyone's chest in an 'X' like crisscross. The dread kept building in her till it was almost painful; like swallowing something that wasn't quite dead yet. The boy next to her was laughing like a crazy person as the bus went over the edge. She screamed and felt her stomach flip. After a few seconds the bus leveled out and she stopped screaming. Slowly her heart rate returned to normal. She looked out the window cautiously and could see wings protruding from the sides of the bus. She vaguely wondered how a bus could be aerodynamic. Without thinking she moved her arm. It brushed up against the boys hand and she immediately pulled away.

"Apparently I'm made of some sort of toxic element now." He remarked. Natalie blushed and looked down at her satchel. Why, oh why had she sat next to this person? Why?! "So, uh what's your name?" He asked casually.

"Huh? Oh, uh, Natalie, Natalie Hartwell." Out of the corner of her eyes she could see him nod,

"So, what's your power?" He asked. _Oh no, _Natalie thought, _Not this again…_ She risked looking at him.

"I know when stuff is going to happen, time wise." He was looking at her oddly and she looked away.

"Huh, well that's lame. I'm Lash." Her mind immediately fell into the gutter and without thinking replied,

"Huh, that's kinky." She said almost to herself before she realized what it was she'd actually said, "Ohgod Ididn'tmeanthat." She was saved from further embarrassment when the bus landed bumpily on the levitating school campus. She rushed off the bus without looking back; she wanted to get as far away from Lash as possible. She followed the rest of the people from the bus that looked like freshmen. Around her she could see kids flying around, freezing people, and having fun using their powers. It was all rather exciting. Another bus pulled up and more kids joined the frosh group. Then she noticed something around the edge of the group. It was a blur, a blur that was slowly closing in on them. Finally it stopped and was recognizable as a rather fat teenage boy.

"Hey! Freshmen," He said, "attention please." Up the steps to the school Natalie could see Lash do stretchy back flips towards them. _So that's his power, _she thought. He stopped next to the fat kid,

"I'm Lash and this is Speed." He put a hand on the fat kids shoulder, "and as representatives of the Sky High Welcoming Committee-"

"We'd be happy to collect that new student fee."Speed finished as Lash held out his over-long arm in front of a short black kid with glasses.

"Um, there was nothing about a new student fee in the handbook…"The kid said confusedly. Natalie hadn't seen anything either, so she supposed that Speed and Lash weren't the _real_ welcoming committee. And from what she knew about Lash, it made cense. After a moment a pretty senior-looking girl came up,

"Okay guys, very funny." She said, "I'll take over from here." She was obviously one of those always-happy preppy girls, the ones that boys would kill to talk to. Her long brown hair swished when she walked and her clothes looked like they were made by the same people who made Barbie's. Lash and Speed walked off, probably to torments some other people. "Hey everybody, I'm Gwen Grayson, your student body President. I know your all going to love it at Sky High." _Yep, definitely preppy_, "I know I have. I've had the greatest experience, I have great friends. But you have to remember not to use your powers outside of the gym during school hours. And I would not suggest standing near the edge; you should also know that skipping class will give you automatic detention. If you can just remember those few simple rules, I promise you will not fall off the edge of the school." There was some polite laughter and she went on, "Now follow me inside for orientation!" She led them into the main school building and through several hallways to the main gym before leaving. The gym was bigger than any normal school gym with row upon row of coliseum-like bleachers surrounding it.

A whooshing noise from behind then announced the entrance of the Principal, Mrs. Powers. She was in the form of a large ball of light but quickly morphed into a woman in front of the podium. "Good morning I am Principal Powers. On behalf of the faculty and staff, welcome to Sky High." From the other side of the group Natalie heard someone shout 'Yeah' quite loudly. She almost giggled, but stopped when she noticed no one else was. Principal Powers went on, "In a few moments you will go through Power Placement and your own heroic journey will begin." Natalie sighed, _how fun, showing off my useless ability to people I go to school with._ "For now good deeds and good luck; let the adventure begin!" She stepped away from the podium and shouted 'comets away'. She turned back into a ball of light and zoomed off.

"Alright, listen up." A new voice said. It belonged to a man in shorts, a zip-up sweatshirt, and dark sunglasses. He was standing behind the group on a large stage, "My name is Coach Boomer. You way know me as Sonic Boom. Here's how power placement is gonna' work. You will step up here and show me your power. Yes, you will do so in front of the entire class. I will then determine where you will be assigned. Hero…" he paused, "Or sidekick. Let's get one think straight: My word is law, my judgment is final, so there will be no switching or 'whiner babies'. Are we clear?" There was a mumbled 'yes' through out the group, "I said ARE WE **CLEEEEAAAAR**?" His voice sent shock waves through the room.

"Yes, Coach Boomer." The group replied in unison. Boomer blew a whistle, "Go time." A pair of steps protruded from the stage and he began calling names. First a kid turned into a rock beast and Natalie felt as though her power was so lame that she should go home sick as soon as possible. The next kid, a cute boy with shocking almost-white hair, got up and _glowed_. You could faintly see a green light emanating from his body. The next kid melted and the girl after that turned into a guinea pig. Natalie felt a bit better after that, though there were still people with amazing powers: six arms, acid spit, and shape shifting.

"Alright, we'll pick it up after lunch." Boomer said, "Starting with _yooooou._" He said menacingly as he pointed at a fairly normal looking kid. That was when Natalie officially decided that she didn't like the school. Or the gym teacher. Or the student body President. Or that stupid 'Lash' kid.

O – o – o – o – o – o – o – O

Not to bad I hope. If you see spelling/grammer mistakes please tell me. I don't want to end up like those people who use 'wat' for what or 'u' for you.

And the pairing is still undecided. I started it as LashOC, but started thinking about where else I could take the plot line. If you leave a review just mentioni which pairing you want, think of it as voting.


	2. Chapter 2 in which Lash kidnaps the Nat

Natalie pulled her lunch bag out of her satchel and looked for a place to sit in the crowded lunch room. It looked like everyone, even the other sidekicks, had someplace to sit, but not her. Gwen sat with the cheerleaders and some other popular looking people. The guinea pig girl sat with the cute glowing boy and the girl who had refused to go through power placement. Lash sat with Speed. The only table that didn't look full had only one occupant: a mean looking boy with long, dark hair who was staring someone down. She felt pangs of uncertainty in her stomach, but needed to sit down at some point. She took a few steps toward the t able and went to set down her lunch when something wrapped around her waist and pulled her away making her gasp out a squeaky 'eep'. Her feet skidded on the floor as she fought the forces that pulled her backwards past people unwilling to help her. Looking down she could see black and white sleeves. After a moment she connected it with Lash. She growled and kept trying to dig her feet into the floor. A moment later she was being set down on a chair next to Lash and across from Speed. She tried to stand up, but a single arm wrapped around her again,

"You're staying right here." Lash told her. Natalie looked at him, "Fine, just-just don't give that kid a swirly in sixteen minutes and fourteen seconds."

"See," Lash said to his friend, "Isn't that weird. She knows stuff." Speed shrugged,

"We're still giving the freshmen wimp a swirly though."

"Well, duh." Natalie struggled against Lash's arm for a minute, but finally gave up and decided to eat her Lunch. It was awkward trying to act normally when she could feel the heat from the arm around her. She sat eating her peanut butter sandwich forlornly while listening to Lash and Speed talk about various wrong-doings and pain inflicted on others. She had no idea why they'd dragged her to their table, it sounded like swirly's and locker pushing was their specialtie, not kidnapping. Finally she got up the courage to ask.

"So, uh, why'd you drag me over here?" she asked during a lull in the conversation. Speed sipped his drink,

"Cause Lash thinks you're hot and we didn't think you'd struggle too much." Lash nodded casually, "You didn't." This weirdo likes me?! She asked herself, and since when am I hot…? "Oh, the frosh's done with his lunch. Let's get him." Speed stood up. Lash retracted his arm, let Natalie go and stood too. Without thinking Natalie grabbed his arm,

"Leave the kid alone!" She begged him. Lash laughed, "No way, it's my job." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, "I've gotta' go. See ya' round babe." He began walking backwards and waved before turning around and following Speed out of the cafeteria. Natalie blinked several times and felt her spine tingle. Finally she gained control over her body again and sat down. A psychopath likes me. He like likes me…And he gave me my first kiss...She was vaguly discusted with herself when she found that she liked him too.

O – o – o – o – o – o – o – O

"You there, in the stripes." Natalie didn't respond. She didn't think he was talking to her and was still preoccupied thinking about the kid who had been transported to the nurses office, "Girly get UP HERE." Someone pushed Natalie forward and she stumbled onto the stage-like platform. "So what do you do?" Natalie tried not to think about how fifty or so kids were looking at her.

"Uh, I can sort of see the future. I-I can tell when things are going to-to happen." She stuttered and looked down.

"Show me." Coach Boomer said. "It-it doesn't work that way. It just comes to me. I can usually predict things when I've been around some one for a long time."

"Sidekick. YOU, NEXT." He said pointing to another person. Natalie walked off the stage sadly. She had known from the beginning that she'd be a sidekick, but it still hurt. She sat down on the hardwood floor and watched the rest of the class get sorted. After a moment she zoned out. Finally she noticed that everyone was walking toward the exit and she got up to follow them.

O – o – o – o – o – o – o – O

Natalie sat at the kitchen table eating popcorn. She heard her mother come in through the front door. "Hey Mom, guess what I've been labeled?" She yelled through the door. Her mother came into view carrying a grocery bag.

"You've been labeled? You didn't punch anyone, did you?" She asked as she pulled a cabbage out of the paper bag. Natalie shook her head,

"No, but I wish it was that. It was power placement. I'm stuck as a sidekick." Cyan Cascade continued putting away the groceries.

"Honey, it's not that bad. You say it like it's the end of the world." Natalie sighed, "Yea, but now everyone knows I have a lame power."

"It's not 'lame'. You've saved me from crashing the car a dozen times. And even if it was lame, you're not the only one. There are lots of kids that don't make the grade for hero."

"And I'll never make friends!" Her mother stood up and looked at her,

"I mentioned that there were other sidekicks, didn't I? Go meet them; I'm sure they'd love to be friends with you." Natalie didn't mention that she was talking about Lash, it was best her mother didn't know until after It was resolved. But she did think about the other sidekicks. Maybe they would like her.

O – o – o – o – o – o – o – O

Decided I'd post Chapter 2 since I got a fave. Yes, we have Speed with original dialogue Lash being a weirdo. Woo. I wonder how many people I scared off with that, though...


	3. Chapter 3 in which rolls are cooked

Sorry for not updating in THREE FREEKIN' MONTHS! I've been doing some serious procrastinating. Now that school's out you guys will have plenty of time to bother me and force me to type.

O – o – o – o – o – o – o – O

Nervously Natalie boarded the bus. Looking around she didn't see Lash. Happily she collapsed into the last empty seat. Things seemed to be going right for once. Even the crazy loops of the bus as it flew to the school didn't seem nearly as bad as the day before. On the campus there was no sign of the bullies. Natalie kept expecting them as she walked to her first period class, but nothing happened.

Natalie soon found out that nearly all of her classes were taught by a man named Mr. Boy. She figured it had to do with the fact that he was the only sidekick teacher in the school. He really was a nice man, but he didn't seem to have much backbone or self-esteem. When the Mad Science Lab exploded he was the first one to panic and was found clinging to the ceiling when the dust cleared.

Natalie was slowly getting used to odd things happening and was fairly sure that her reflexes were already getting better. There were always people flying in front of you or shooting electricity from their hands. And by the end of her second day it was second nature to move away from anyone that was angry. You just assumed that they might singe the hair off your head.

At lunch she managed to sit with some other sidekicks: A girl with the ability to talk to bugs and a pair of twins, both boys, who could breathe under water when touching. They were nice people, but didn't seem to want to be friends with her until they knew for sure if Lash would leave her alone.

On the bus home there was no sign of either Lash or Speed. Natalie hoped that they had been deported to some sort of military school, though it didn't seem likely. There were lots of people at Sky High and they were obviously Heroes with different schedules. It was more realistic to think that she had just missed seeing them, military school? I wish.

She walked around the block to her house. Even before she walked through the door she could smell yeast. "Mom, are you making bread?" She used her heels to push off her blue flats. She left them in the mud room as she moved to the kitchen.

"Not tonight, luv. I'm making rolls for dinner." Natalie walked in on her mother putting a tray in the oven, "Set the table, will you?"

"Yea, mom." Natalie set her satchel on the couch and pulled open the silverware drawer, "Were you popular when you were in high school?" She set forks on the right side of the green place mats.

"Good heavens, no." Her mother replied as she filled up a watering can in the sink. She leaned over a small barrel cactus as she watered it, "I didn't get full control over my powers until I was a junior, before that I was picked on all the time. I must have been an easy target or something." Natalie thought glumly to herself, _it must run in the family._ Still, it was nice to know that she wasn't the only picked on person in her family. She set the knives and spoons on the right. "Once I stood up for myself they started to back off. And when I blasted Marry Clark through the gym wall they started to treat me like I was one of them. Hero's can be mean sometimes, luv."

O – o – o – o – o – o – o – O

I'd like to thank all the people who fav'd and left sparkly comments. (still can't believe that people like this story)


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